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Re: EPA Bans Most Wood-Burning Stoves

I guess what my sticking point is is that legislation shouldn't be driving these innovations rather the free market should be since less wood use and less smoke are great selling points that would entice people to naturally buy them.

That is the problem. LEGISLATION.

I don't give a shit what they are legislating, they shouldn't BE doing it. Let the market decide.

It comes down to one thing... if the government says you HAVE to, then DON'T do it.

Re: The Overbearing EPA

President Obama has a chance to craft a second-term legacy on climate change even as the rest of his agenda runs aground in Congress.

Gun control legislation is dead; immigration reform is on life support; and reaching a fiscal deal with Republicans appears to be a long shot.

To make matters worse, what was supposed to be his signature first-term achievement — ObamaCare — is suffering from a disastrous rollout.

But there’s one thing that’s going right for Obama: Executive action on climate change is moving full-speed ahead at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“He may be able to do more through climate change [rules] because the EPA has the authority,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill on Thursday.

The most far-reaching piece of Obama’s climate plan is carbon emission standards for the nation’s fleet of existing power plants, by far the largest single source of industrial carbon emissions. The EPA is also writing standards for new plants.

“I think climate change, immigration reform are both sort of legacy issues,” Blumenthal said. “The measure of his presidency will be whether he has left changes in law and regulation, but also a heightened awareness, which I think he has been doing.”

Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer said the push on climate change through executive action could shape Obama’s legacy — but only to a point.

“There are limits to what it will mean to his presidency,” said Zelizer, who teaches history and public affairs.

One problem facing Obama is that some of the new EPA regulations might not be settled by the time he leaves office.

“[Administrative actions] don’t have the same kind of impact in defining a president as big legislative accomplishments and they are more susceptible to being overturned,” Zelizer said. “The next president can change them. That’s always the problem.”

The president in June told the EPA to release draft federal emissions rules for existing power plants in June 2014 and complete them a year later. Then states would have until mid-2016 to submit plans to the EPA to implement the mandate.

But the coal and power companies are certain to challenge the rules in the courts.

“Even if EPA is able to stay on schedule and sign the final ... rule by June of 2015, it is very unlikely that litigation over the rule will be resolved before the President leaves office,” said Jeff Holmstead, a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani who was the top air pollution regulator at the EPA under President George W. Bush.

Holmstead noted that after states submit their plans, the EPA must decide whether to approve or disapprove them.

“At that point, there is likely to be litigation over EPA's decision,” said Holmstead, whose firm represents power companies that use coal and refiners that oppose EPA regulation, among other clients.

Holmstead predicted there would be “years of litigation” on the existing power plants rules, involving “possibly as many as 50 different lawsuits in every U.S. Circuit Court in the country.”

The White House is seeking to bolster public support to ensure the climate change actions stand the test of time.

Administration officials are seeking to parry intense criticism from Capitol Hill, where EPA critics are going on the offensive against the power plant rules.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz have been making a series of speeches and media appearances in support of Obama’s agenda.

Green groups are also marshaling their forces behind the rules.

Jeff Nesbit of Climate Nexus, a group that promotes action on climate change, said it’s important to have members of Obama’s green team promote the effort, even if the White House doesn’t need congressional approval.

Nesbit, the group’s executive director, said the “artificially contrived climate science debate is ending,” but added that’s just one step for advocates.

“McCarthy and Moniz are powerful, articulate defenders of both the science and necessary actions that emerge from that science basis — which is precisely what we need to reach a critical mass where a significant majority of the public wants and accepts actions to deal with climate change,” Nesbit said.

Polling suggests climate advocates still have work to do with the public.

Pew Research Center polling conducted in mid-October showed that 67 percent of adult U.S. residents say there’s solid evidence of global warming, a figure that Pew notes has “changed little in the past few years.”

Just 44 percent say it’s mostly caused by human activity. That’s in sharp contrast to the scientific consensus that the earth is warming and that burning oil and coal and other human actions are the major driver of it.

It’s also unclear how vigorously Obama will promote his climate policies.

The president devoted portions of his inaugural address and State of the Union speech to climate, and he then delivered a major speech spelling out his second-term plan.

But White House aides did not say Friday morning whether more speeches were in the works.

Re: The Overbearing EPA

Environmental Protection Agency officials have from the beginning of President Obama's tenure in the Oval Office "pursued a path of obfuscation, operating in the shadows, and out of the sunlight," according to a Senate report.

The report by Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee provides a detailed description of violations of the Freedom of Information Act and other federal laws and regulations meant to encourage transparency and accountability in the government.

"The agency established an alias identity to hide the actions of the former administrator; has purposefully been unresponsive to FOIA request, oftentimes redacting information the public has a right to know; and mismanaged its electronic records system such that federal records have been jeopardized," the report said.

"Moreover, EPA’s leadership abandoned the historic model of a specialized public servant who seeks to fairly administer the law and has instead embraced a number of controversial tactics to advance a secretive agenda," the report said.

In addition to multiple abuses of the FOIA, the Senate report claims EPA officials have sought to cover up such activities when challenged by congressional oversight officials.

"As Congress has raised questions about EPA’s lack of transparency, the agency has steadfastly ignored its constitutional obligation to subject itself to congressional oversight, apparently in an effort to prevent the public from knowing what is going on behind closed doors," the report said.

The "alias identity" referred to by the report was the official government email account for "Richard Windsor" that was used by former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Jackson is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the misuse of government email accounts by Jackson in conducting official business, as well as use of personal email accounts by her and other federal executives.

Federal officials are barred from using fictitious names on official email accounts and are required to inform agency FOIA officials whenever they cannot avoid using a personal email account to conduct official business.

Jackson resigned from EPA in December 2012 after it became known the agency's inspector general had opened an investigation. Jackson has recently "lawyered-up," apparently as part of her preparation for the House hearing on Tuesday, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The WFB quotes a Jackson lawyer denying that she has done anything illegal and expects to cooperate fully with the House panel.

Jackson's use of the Richard Windsor account became public last year as a result of publication of a book by Christopher C. Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Horner's book details misuse of government email and the FOIA by EPA officials beginning in the Clinton administration under then-Administator Carol Browner. Browner also served as Obama's "environmental czar" from January 2009 to March 2011 when her position was abolished.

Among other alleged abuses and violations included in the lengthy Senate report are these:

• "The impediments to EPA transparency extend beyond EPA’s framework for managing information and identifying responsive documents. EPA’s shortcomings also involve the manner in which EPA responds to FOIA requests, including the prolific, and often inappropriate, use of exemptions to withhold information from the public...

• "The manner in which EPA has trained its staff on the implementation of transparency laws is insufficient. Regional employees have not taken the proper training and lack a comprehensive understanding of how to process a FOIA request.

• "In one instance, it appears that EPA deliberately altered the date on a FOIA response to avoid the legal consequences of missing a deadline and then excluded this document from a FOIA production to avoid scrutiny and embarrassment.

• "EPA has also exploited FOIA to protect its own interests while disregarding the public interest by acting with bias in processing fee waiver requests and facilitating requests for environmentalist allies."

UPDATE: Additional Excerpts From The Report

Concerning the "Richard Windsor" email account:

"The committee has uncovered substantial evidence that calls into question the integrity of EPA’s system for identifying and preserving federal records.

"In the first instance, the committee has learned that the agency assigned a secret alias email address to former EPA administrators.

"Further frustrating the integrity of the system is the fact the agency cannot indicate definitively if these accounts were reviewed in records requests.

"In addition, our investigation has revealed that multiple high ranking officials have used non-EPA email accounts to conduct official agency business.

"These practices have the potential to undermine the agency’s ability to preserve records under the FRA and to appropriately respond to FOIA requests." - Page eight

"The fact that the administrator of the EPA operated under a secret identity is alarming enough. However, a congressional briefing sparked additional concerns.

"EPA officials revealed that the agency’s FOIA office, the individuals responsible for proper administration of FOIA, may have been entirely unaware of the Richard Windsor account.

"Moreover, none of the EPA officials present at the briefing knew who was responsible for archiving and preserving the administrator’s emails." --- Page nine

"In fact, none of the officials could even attest to whether any of Jackson’s alias emails were ever archived for federal record keeping purposes; either Jackson herself or a personal assistant performed these duties.

"Such a scheme would allow the administrator to determine the scope of a FOIA response that touched on her correspondence, creating the potential for a conflict of interest inconsistent with the intent of federal sunshine laws." --- Page 10

Concerning use of personal emails:

"Despite the agency’s policy and multiple statements denying the truth, the committee has discovered that former Region 8 Administrator James Martin regularly used a non-official e-mail account to correspond with individuals and groups outside of EPA, regarding agency business.

"For example, Martin regularly communicated with Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund, about agency priorities on a private account.

"On multiple occasions, Martin also corresponded with Alan Salazar, chief strategy officer for Governor [John] Hickenlooper, and staff of the Colorado Conservation League, as well as others. --- Page 11-12

"The use of private email to conduct agency business is not restricted to EPA’s regional offices, as the committee has discovered that multiple senior officials at EPA headquarters engaged in such email practices.

Re: The Overbearing EPA

Governor Mead at Capitol for a Day event 2013 (Picture from soswy.state.wy.us)

Just when you think that the EPA can’t get any more out of control, it decides to change the border of a state.

According to an article on Trib.com, the EPA overturned a 1905 Federal Law by expanding the Wind River Indian Reservation:

CHEYENNE — Gov. Matt Mead’s administration is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to freeze implementation of its recent decision that more than 1 million acres around Riverton remains legally Indian Country.

Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael wrote Monday to national EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Regional Administrator Shawn McGrath in Denver asking them to reconsider the agency’s decision.

The EPA ruled last month that a 1905 federal law opening part of the Wind River Indian Reservation to settlement by non-Indians didn’t extinguish the land’s reservation status.

The EPA addressed the reservation boundary issue in its decision last month that granted an application from the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. The tribes had applied to have the reservation treated as a separate state under the federal Clean Air Act.

Wyoming’s Governor, Matt Mead, says he will fight the decision and is concerned that a Federal Agency assumes it has the power to alter a state’s boundaries:

Mead has pledged to challenge the EPA decision in federal court. The state’s request to the EPA to halt implementation of its decision could help the state if it later asks the court to block the agency’s decision while the appeal plays out.

“My deep concern is about an administrative agency of the federal government altering a state’s boundary and going against over 100 years of history and law,” Mead said. “This should be a concern to all citizens because, if the EPA can unilaterally take land away from a state, where will it stop?”

If you agree with the decision or not, the EPA does not have the power to adjust the borders of a state. The proper places for such a decision are either in the legislative branch or the judicial branch. To me this is an obvious abuse of a power the EPA wrongly assumes it has…

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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
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We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.like overripe fruit into our hands."

Re: The Overbearing EPA

Privately operated airboats, icons of the Gladesmen culture of the Everglades, will be dwindling in number because the Park Service isn’t granting any new licenses

December 27, 2013

Today, South Florida airboat owners like Keith Price, Don Onstad and Charlie Erwin range freely throughout the East Everglades in their roaring, slough-skimming craft as they have for decades.

They buzz through the sawgrass to a lone pond apple tree they call the “Christmas Tree” — a makeshift memorial decorated with stuffed animals and topped by an American flag where several of their departed friends’ ashes have been scattered by propeller wash. They hunt for artifacts on tree islands like the Duck Club — named for a ramshackle cabin built in the 1950s that’s reputed to have hosted former President Dwight Eisenhower for duck hunting and card playing. They rescue stranded airboaters, escort Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops on slough slogs and pick up countless party balloons that float in from town.

“We are the protectors of the Everglades,” Erwin said.

But maybe not for much longer. The three Gladesmen — all longtime members of the airboat Association of Florida ranging in age from 60 to 72 — will be among the last private airboaters to operate in the vast marsh south of Tamiami Trail if officials at Everglades National Park get their way.

The park’s proposed general management plan for the next 15 to 20 years calls for an end to all private airboating in the East Everglades once the “grandfathers” who operate there now have died. The region was added to the national park in 1989, and whoever can prove he or she had a registered airboat in Miami-Dade County back then could obtain a non-transferrable, non-renewable permit to operate on designated trails only for the remainder of their lives. Park officials estimate 1,000 to 2,000 airboaters would be affected.

As for longtime commercial airboat tour operators along the Trail — Coopertown, Everglades Safari Park, and Gator Park — the park proposes to buy their properties, turn them into concessionaires and confine their operations to a “front country zone” of about 10,000 to 11,000 acres just south of the Trail. If the park’s preferred plan is adopted sometime next year, then the rest of the East Everglades — more than 80,000 acres — would be designated as wilderness with no mechanical propulsion — even bicycles — allowed.

Park planner Fred Herling says the aim is to strike a balance between the desires of airboaters and other visitors such as paddlers and hikers.

“We acknowledge private airboating and commercial airboating is an important way for people to experience the Everglades,” Herling said. “And there are people who want to experience it in a more wilderness way.”

But long-timers such as Price, Erwin and Onstad argue that the region hasn’t truly been a wilderness for a very long time, that it has been hunted, fished, frogged and farmed for centuries starting with Native Americans and culminating with the Gladesmen, whose culture has evolved over the past 100 years.

“This place is special,” Price, the 60-year-old president of the airboat association, said. “I have pictures of my daughter climbing the trees. My daughter is 40 now and still climbs the trees. They will put up markers and boundaries and tell us we can’t go there because it’s virgin land. There’s something that’s been here longer than the park’s been here and that’s Gladesmen culture. We don’t want to destroy something we want to share with our children and grandchildren. We’re just trying to hang onto our rights.”

And private airboat owners like Price are not the only ones.

All three commercial airboat tour operators along Tamiami Trail acknowledge the National Park Service has approached them over the past month with offers to buy their properties. But no deals have been closed yet, and the business owners are wary of becoming concessionaires, paying rent to the park service with little say in how their day-to-day operations will be conducted.

Going in, the tour operators already were aggravated by being told to cease operations during the federal government shutdown last October. And before that, road and bridge construction on the Trail — aimed at unblocking the flow of fresh water south from Lake Okeechobee through the ’Glades to Florida Bay — deterred some visitors from their attractions. Rick Farace, who runs Everglades Safari Park, says he sees no more water flowing south under the new bridge than before, and that it seems to be going north instead.

“The government can’t even run itself,” Farace said.

There’s actually a scientific explanation for what Farace observed, according to South Florida Water Management District spokesman Gabe Margasak: “It's a good observation. The situation is possible when the northeast Shark River Slough water levels are higher than in the L-29 canal [north of Tamiami Trail]. The district isn't moving any water out of the area. The water is equalizing itself because of recent rainfall. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.”

Erwin, secretary of the airboat club, is frustrated by the impending limitations on airboat access to a place he has enjoyed since boyhood.

“You ate whatever you found out there,” he said. “You’d stick a couple frogs, kill a deer. Anything the park does, they kick out the people who truly love it and let in snowbirds. You get on your little boardwalk and take pictures. With the park service, it’s all about parks for profit.”

Price and his fellow club members — there are about 200 — hope to convince lawmakers to keep the East Everglades open to airboating.

“We need recognition, bringing representatives and senators out here and making them aware of what’s going on,” Price said. “Laws are made by man; they can be changed by man. We won’t let this Gladesmen culture die.”

Re: The Overbearing EPA

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards for wood stoves that would reduce the maximum amount of fine particulate emissions allowed for new stoves sold in 2015 and 2019.

Maximum emissions would be reduced by one-third next year and by 80 percent in five years, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Fine particulate pollution is made up of solid particles and liquid droplets that measure 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less. The EPA currently certifies non-catalytic wood stoves if they produce less than 7.5 grams of fine particulate per hour.

Fine particulate absorbed by breathing has been linked to heart attacks, decreased lung function and premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

The proposed EPA regulations would reduce that to 4.5 grams per hour for stoves manufactured after the regulations go into place next year.

The standards would tighten again in 2019. New stoves could emit just 1.3 grams per hour.

Wood stoves already installed or for sale are not affected by the regulations, the EPA announced Friday.

The EPA in its announcement said dollars spent for compliance would be made up in medical cost savings.

"When these standards are fully implemented, EPA estimates that for every dollar spent to comply with these standards, the American public will see between $118 and $267 in health benefits," it said. "Consumers will also see a monetary benefit from efficiency improvements in the new wood stoves, which use less wood to heat homes. The total health and economic benefits of the proposed standards are estimated to be at $1.8 (billion) to $2.4 billion annually."

Re: The Overbearing EPA

It's all about control. Control of the populace may be gained through overt means or through backdoor regulation. Either way we are all headed toward the replacement of our natural freedoms with the shackles of an overbearing government. In ten years we'll be able to look back on these instances and say that we saw it coming. Pray to God we actually do something about it as a people and at some time refuse to be herded as sheeple.

Re: The Overbearing EPA

I have a blog I run... the other day I reposted that story about the Navy Master Chief (or whatever his rank was) about how he said it was high time to do something - and was basically calling for insurrection.

When I reposted it on the blog I was suddenly inundated by assholes; all of them, a dozen or more entries, made rude comments about "Where were these guys when" blah blah blah (illegal wars were being fought was one of the comments) and why didn't they say something then. Another, who has a profile as a "psychic" and other strange things was "calling for a damned civil war to throw those people out" (An OBVIOUS attempt to try to get the blog owner to respond with similar tripe so she could report it probably).

Others were all over the board, pretending to agree while ripping the Right a new asshole for being "fascists".

What these bozos fail to grasp is that bloggers know who they are, we all READ our comments, we don't post the bullshit and we refuse to give them voice now.

The worst part of it all is that BELIEVE in EPA regulations, killing off the "humans" who are dirtying this world, putting all the Conservatives in jail, killing the religious (in particular, Christians and thus they side with Muslims) and banning of anything and everything that has to do with making a dollar in this world.

I don't think God is going to interfere... you know, there IS free will and all that. There are those who believe with all their heart and soul that we have to control the population to make them alike, to make them fall into line and be "good little comrades".

It is those people for whom I feel most sorry - and they include some of my own family members. Because the God's honest truth is if you don't have the gumption to get off your ass, get yourself out of the predicament you're in, to pull your own ass up by your own boot straps and make a life for you and your children, you're GOING to be DEPENDING on someone else for your existence.

If they can NOT grasp that they are dependent on that government (and subsequently get OUT from under the control of the government) they are surely going to be shocked into a stupor when the plug is pulled on government benefits (as it will be, by the way as punishment or worse).

When the "end" for America comes - and at this rate, it will - it won't be with a bang. It's going to be with the whimpering of simpering fools, the clank of chains and the moaning of the dying and starving, and the occasional, if not often sound of gun fire while a pit is dug for the bodies to be buried.

Libertatem Prius!

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Re: The Overbearing EPA

Originally Posted by American Patriot

When the "end" for America comes - and at this rate, it will - it won't be with a bang. It's going to be with the whimpering of simpering fools, the clank of chains and the moaning of the dying and starving, and the occasional, if not often sound of gun fire while a pit is dug for the bodies to be buried.

Another prediction that may very well come true. One can only guess (albeit educatedly (if that's a word)) when it will happen. The signs are all around us, and barring some form of grace pulling us back from the edge, we may very well see these things happen.

Re: The Overbearing EPA

Grace has little to do with this, MMCO.

I say that because before Grace can exist one must believe in it. (Definition: (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.)

Now... do you really think that these cretins, criminals and politicians "believe" in anything other than themselves, their own power and the power of Washington over the masses?

I certainly don't.

Yeah, the signs are everywhere.

What I'm not seeing are the signs of a miracle that will take place.

I don't think there there were any before Noah's Flood - other than Noah himself hearing God and doing His biding. Noah built the Ark and was considered a loon for doing it.

People today build bunkers, and prepare to survive. And are considered to be loons.

That's the parallels I see here.

Noah was a Survivalist and Prepper.

Libertatem Prius!

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Re: The Overbearing EPA

God was fed up with the people of the Earth… and wanted to wipe the planet from the people and all the animals that flew or walked, because he regretting putting people here.

So what he did was found one man, Noah, whom he favored because Noah believed. In the end, Noah was a Survivalist. And Prepper.
Simply put, Noah who believed in God, did God’s will and when God spoke to Noah and told him to build the Ark, he also told him to collect food and supplies.

Don’t believe me. Believe this:
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[d]16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[e] high all around.[f] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

Interesting.

Folks, we have impending flood waters coming. Flood waters of criminal corruption throughout the government. America is drowning in corruption. The flood waters are created not by God though, but by evil. The evil found in the hearts of men and the minds of minions.

We have a government and media in cahoots. They won’t report things like when a Muslim gets inside of pipes meant for a water system.

They won’t investigate the crimes against people, the deaths of Americans like the SEALS who died, the people who have died from “Fast and Furious”. They won’t investigate the deaths of those in Benghazi. They won’t take the time to remove the current Criminal-in-Chief, his Lieutenants like Eric Holder, and no one wants to stop Hillary Clinton from running for office of the President.

Folks, Noah was a survivalist and prepper. He saved the animals and plants, he provided food for them.

We urge you to be a Noah of your own time. You might not be hearing God’s voice in your ear, you might not be six hundred years old, you might not have three sons or the ability to build an Ark – but you are a human being, with God given Free Will and you can certainly see the “signs” around you now. You can see the coming destruction of this world.

There are no miracles.

Noah WAS the miracle.

You need to be a miracle too.

Prepare, Survive, Teach. The End comes to us all eventually. Don’t be unprepared!

Libertatem Prius!

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Re: The Overbearing EPA

A former high-ranking EPA official who recently was sentenced to prison for fraud told lawmakers last month that, before he left the agency, he was working on a “project” examining ways to “modify the DNA of the capitalist system.”
The startlingly blunt comment was included in newly released transcripts of John Beale’s deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. One group that is frequently critical of the Obama administration’s energy policy, the Institute for Energy Research, said the claim is a “smoking gun” that reveals the administration’s true intentions.
Beale’s credibility is not exactly ironclad. He was sentenced last month to 32 months in prison for bilking taxpayers out of nearly $1 million by pretending to be a CIA agent.
But, in the transcripts, he spoke in great detail about meetings he supposedly had with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, back when she was heading the Office of Air and Radiation. [...]
He argued that environmental regulation was reaching its “limits” because “the fundamental dynamic of the capitalistic system is for businesses and individuals to try to externalize all costs.” So he said he began working on his plan.
This, he said, involved “coming up with specific proposals that could be — could have been proposed either legislatively or things which could have been done administratively to kind of modify the DNA of the capitalist system.”
Beale said this “is not new” and has happened “tens of times” in the history of capitalism.
“It’s not a God-given system that was created once and never changes. It changes all the time,” he said. He said McCarthy was aware of the project and “we met frequently to talk about it and had actually quite deep discussions.” He said, though, that the project was eventually “scrapped.”

Libertatem Prius!

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Re: The Overbearing EPA

Ex-EPA official told lawmakers of project to 'modify the DNA' of capitalism

Published January 22, 2014FoxNews.com

FILE: Oct. 1, 2013: Former EPA official John Beale at a hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

A former high-ranking EPA official who recently was sentenced to prison for fraud told lawmakers last month that, before he left the agency, he was working on a "project" examining ways to "modify the DNA of the capitalist system."

Beale's credibility is not exactly ironclad. He was sentenced last month to 32 months in prison for bilking taxpayers out of nearly $1 million by pretending to be a CIA agent.
But, in the transcripts, he spoke in great detail about meetings he supposedly had with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, back when she was heading the Office of Air and Radiation.

Beale said they started meeting in mid-2009. At a lunch, he claimed his "fabricated story about working at CIA came up," but that they also discussed various projects. Beale recalled telling her about a project he wanted to work on, which he described as "green economics."

He argued that environmental regulation was reaching its "limits" because "the fundamental dynamic of the capitalistic system is for businesses and individuals to try to externalize all costs." So he said he began working on his plan.

This, he said, involved "coming up with specific proposals that could be -- could have been proposed either legislatively or things which could have been done administratively to kind of modify the DNA of the capitalist system."

Beale said this "is not new" and has happened "tens of times" in the history of capitalism.

"It's not a God-given system that was created once and never changes. It changes all the time," he said. He said McCarthy was aware of the project and "we met frequently to talk about it and had actually quite deep discussions." He said, though, that the project was eventually "scrapped."

He also claimed the project began under the George W. Bush administration.

But, at a time when oil and gas companies are complaining about crushing EPA regulations, the IER seized on the comments as proof that the administration is pursuing a power grab.

"This is the smoking gun. For years, we have been saying the real agenda behind this administration's energy and environmental policies is the just what President Obama has said it is: to fundamentally transform America," Senior Vice President Dan Kish said in a statement. "In his testimony under oath, Beale, perhaps unwittingly, has laid bare the administration's end goal. The President's policies are not about carbon, they are not about coal, they are not even about energy and the environment. ... These policies are not about energy, but power."

In releasing the 263 pages of documents, the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee did not comment on that section of the transcript. They focused instead on the fraud Beale committed by lying about working for the CIA.

"This is an egregious example of fraud on the highest levels of management at the EPA," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the committee, said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the committee, said Beale "spun an elaborate web of lies" to fool his EPA supervisors.

The EPA has not responded to a request for comment.

Beale's case was one of the more bizarre schemes run against the government in recent memory. Beale's trickery began more than a decade ago and was largely a scheme to collect unearned pay over roughly 13 years -- essentially by saying he needed to take off one workday a week for CIA missions.

In the committee documents, Beale acknowledged this was a "fantasy."

Libertatem Prius!

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Re: The Overbearing EPA

As of January 3rd, the EPA banned about 80% of the wood-burning stoves and fireplace inserts in the United States. Stoves which are used to heat 12% of the homes in America and are especially needed in outlying rural areas. Fireplaces are also being looked at.
The EPA is attempting to reduce particle pollution with new rules. Instead of limiting fine airborne particulate emissions to 15 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3) of air, the change will impose a maximum 12 μg/m3 limit. That is equivalent to a person smoking 3 to 4 cigarettes in a small confined space.
The draconian EPA regulations will be spread out, one will take place in March and the next in five to eight years. Stoves currently in use will not be affected but obviously, getting them repaired will become more and more difficult.
They haven’t yet gone after outdoor appliances or home heating appliances, but can they be far behind? Will people be able to heat their homes in a future controlled by extreme environmentalists?
Even fireplaces are being looked at though not included yet. They are part of the future research.